Mom to collect sperm from deceased son

AUSTIN (KXAN/AP) - An Austin judge has ordered the Travis County Medical Examiner's office to maintain the body of a dead man in order for his sperm to be collected.

The order grants the wish of Marissa Evans for a chance to have a grandchild.

"My son wanted children, and I want to keep his legacy alive," said Marissa Evans from her Fort Worth living room.

She has done something most parents would never think of doing. She got a court order to have her son Nikolas Evans' sperm extracted, even though he has been dead for three days.

"I feel hopeful for the first time since he passed away that I have something to look forward to,” said Evans with a little smile on her face. “Even though he's gone, maybe we can...I can have a grand baby."

Her son Nikolas Evans, 21, died Sunday at University Medical Center at Brackenridge after being punched and falling during a March 27 assault on Sixth Street.

Wednesday's order from Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman also directed medical examiner officials to provide access so an expert can take the specimen.

Her decision and the court order are raising eyebrows. It is also unprecedented in the medical world.

"Procurement of sperm from live donors is not unusual,” said Dr. Elizabeth Houser, with The Urology Team. “That’s right for in-vitro fertilization. The procurement of sperm from a deceased person is unusual."`

Dr. Elizabeth Houser has been performing sperm extraction for 16 years. She will perform the procedure on Nikolas Evans.

"No one is sure how long the sperm is viable after death,” commented Dr. Houser. “I saw a new York Times article in 1999 about a live birth from a donor who had been dead for 30 hours.”

Nikolas' organs were donated to five other people on Monday. His body had been at the medical examiner’s office since that time. Even though his body has been kept at a certain temperature, Dr. Houser said this might not work.

"I think it's highly unlikely and the mother's aware of this,” said Dr. Houser. “That it's highly unlikely that we are going to find viable sperm."

Despite the odds, Evans' mom said she has a good feeling about this process.

"There's going to be lots of hurdles, but these two hurdles that we passed [Tuesday] and [Wednesday] were really huge," said Evans.

Dr. Houser said the procedure may take about an hour to perform. The results on whether the process was successful or not will come soon after.